Han-Na Chang’s flair shone out from her first recordings for EMI, and she reinforces that impression in warm and expressive readings of the Lalo Concerto, coupled with an attractive selection of short concertante pieces. In the Lalo the expressive range of her playing is most impressive in her winning control of flexible rubato, and in the quicksilver lightness of her playing in the Scherzo and the allegro vivace passages of the finale.

It is fascinating to compare her reading with that of Jacqueline du Pré in one of her last recordings, made live in Cleveland in 1973 (EMI, 11/95). The similarities rather than the contrasts are remarkable, with Chang gaining inevitably from the fine recording, which brings out her wide dynamic range, right down to extreme pianissimi which enhance the mystery in her playing. The modern recording also underlines the sharp, incisive way she tackles the syncopations in the Scherzo and finale, with its echoes of Spanish music. The accompaniment of Pappano and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra is brilliant.

In the shorter concertante pieces Chang is just as inspired, with the Glazunov a free fantasy, the Saint-Saëns Allegro appassionato urgent and thrustful in its sharp attack. It may not be as memorable as Saint-Saëns’s violin concertante pieces but it is still an attractive piece. In the Dvorák Chang brings out the Czech flavour, while the Tchaikovsky is dreamily nostalgic and the Casals hushed and mysterious. Welcome as this issue is, one hopes for more demanding repertory on Chang’s future discs.